CAROLINA HURRICANES (16-17-6-3, 41 pts.)
vs.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (15-21-6-1, 37 pts.)
Friday, Jan. 10, 2003, 7 p.m. at RBC Center

GAME NIGHT

The defending Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes to RBC Center to face Southeast Division rival Washington in the teams’ second of five regular-season meetings. Tonight’s game marks the start of a four-game home stand for Carolina and a stretch in which it will play seven-of-nine in Raleigh.
Hurricanes winger Jeff O’Neill has five goals in the last four games, including two power-play markers – one the game-winner – at Boston last Saturday. His four-game goals streak (Jan. 3-8: 5g, 0a) is the longest this season by any Carolina player. O’Neill leads the team with 17 goals and is tied with Rod Brind'Amour with 34 points. He ranked tied for fourth among all NHL players with six game-winning goals through games of Jan. 8.
Captain Ron Francis has 17 points (6g, 11a) in his last 20 games. Francis had a six-game point streak broken against the NY Islanders on Dec. 28. With his assist against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 22, Francis became the second player in NHL history to tally 1,200 career assists. Second-year forward Erik Cole has 17 points (10g, 7a) in the last 24 games.

PRACTICE TIMES

Jan. 10	Friday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Jan. 11	Saturday	RecZone	11:45 a.m.
Jan. 12	Sunday	TBA	TBA
Jan. 13	Monday	RBC Center	11 a.m.
Jan. 14	Tuesday	RBC Center	11 a.m.
Jan. 15	Wednesday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Jan. 16	Thursday	RecZone	11 a.m.

ON THE AIR
Television: Fox Sports Net (NC & SC)
Radio: WKIX 102.3 FM (Goldsboro); WKXU 101.1 FM (Raleigh); WDTF 570-AM (Raleigh); WMFD 630-AM (Wilmington); WDLZ 98.3-FM (Murfreesboro); WSJS 600-AM (Winston-Salem); WRUP 97.9-FM (New Bern/Morehead City); WSTK 910-AM (Jacksonville); WNMX 106.1 (Charlotte); WCNC 1240-AM (Elizabeth City); WZBO 1260-AM (Edenton)
Internet: www.nhl.com

CAROLINA NOTES
Hurricanes forward Jeff O’Neill ranks tied for the team lead in scoring this season with 34 points (17g, 17a). O’Neill has tallied 17 points (11g, 6a) in his last 19 games. O’Neill established a career-high 10-game point streak from Oct. 11 to Oct. 30 this season, tallying 13 points (4g, 9a) during that span. His previous career-high point streak was seven, set during the 2000-01 season when he had 10 points (5g, 5a) in seven games (12/31-1/14). He also set a new career high for longest assist streak this season at seven games (10/11-10/23: 1g, 7a). With an assist against the Senators on Oct. 23, O’Neill passed Geoff Sanderson for eighth on the Hurricanes’ all-time assists list and Sylvain Turgeon for ninth on the Hurricanes’ all-time points list. With a goal against the Islanders on Oct. 30, he passed Ray Ferraro for seventh on the Hurricanes’ all-times goals scored list. O’Neill has won 271-of-480 (56.5%) of his faceoffs this season and ranked 12th in the NHL in that category through games of Jan. 8.

CAROLINA AT HOME: 8-6-5-2
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 8-11-1-1
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 41-of-237 (17.3%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 193-of-228 (84.6%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
Defenseman Bret Hedican missed the game at New York, Jan. 8, with concussion symptoms.
Defenseman David Tanabe missed the game at New York, Jan. 8, with a shoulder injury.

CAROLINA / WASHINGTON NOTES
The Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals meet tonight in the second of five matchups this season and first of two January meetings. The Capitals took the teams’ first game this year 2-1 on Oct. 17 at RBC Center. The Capitals won the regular-season series against the Hurricanes last season 2-1-2. Carolina’s lone win came on Nov. 8, 2001 at the MCI Center 3-2 on a game-winning goal by Jeff O’Neill in the third period. The teams tied on March 8, 2002 in Raleigh 2-2 and on Dec. 30, 2001 at the MCI Center 5-5. Washington took a 4-3 overtime victory in Raleigh on Dec. 2, 2001 and came away with a 6-2 victory at the MCI Center on Nov. 30, 2001. Sami Kapanen led Carolina with eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) against Washington. Ron Francis scored four goals in the five games. The Hurricanes are 27-45-13-1 in the all-time regular-season series against Washington. The Hurricanes are 14-20-9-1 against the Capitals at home and 13-25-4-0 in Washington.

CAPITALS NOTES
With a tie against the NY Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jan. 4, the Capitals completed the 41st game of their 2002-03 schedule, marking the midway point for the team. In the first half of the season, the Capitals earned 43 points with a record of 18-16-5-2. At the half-way point last season, the Capitals had 39 points and a record of 16-18-7-0.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
92 O'Neill	42	17	17	34
17 Brind'Amour	42	13	21	34
10 Francis	42	14	16	30
26 Cole	42	12	11	23
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Irbe	19	2.92	6-11-2	.892
80 Weekes	26	2.31	10-9-4	.923
CAPITALS
	GP	G	A	TP
92 Nylander	39	10	27	37
68 Jagr	40	18	18	36
55 Gonchar	41	8	23	31
20 Lang	41	10	18	28
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
37 Kolzig	29	2.44	14-11-3	.922
35 Charpentier	9	2.63	3-4-1	.917